When your son is a commander in the Special Forces, the confidence can be contagious.

"He would always tell me, 'Mom, the Special Forces training is so thorough, it can't be beat,'" said Jane Young, mother of Master Sgt. Mitchell Young, who was killed Sunday in Afghanistan. "

(ENLARGE)

Master Sgt. Mitchell W. Young died while conducting a combat reconnaissance patrol in Afghanistan.

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The Jonesboro native stood just under 6 feet tall, his mother said, "but when he stood up, with all those medals on his uniform, with that chest stuck out, you felt like he was indestructible."

Young, 39, was killed when his vehicle struck an explosive in Kajaki Sofla. He had been assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne), his third deployment in Afghanistan, along with one in Iraq.

He enlisted in the Army 18 years ago, just as the first Gulf War commenced. His mother said Young's interest in the armed forces caught her by surprise.

"No one in our family had ever been career military," she said. "I prayed and prayed I could change his mind."

Young enrolled at North Georgia College, where he quickly adapted to the military way of life. Within eight years of enlisting, he was a Green Beret.

By then, Jane Young had changed her mind about her son's chosen career.

"I was so proud, mainly because he loved so much of what he did," she said.

Besides his mother, Young is survived by two siblings and a wife, Robyn Young, of Fayetteville, N.C. Funeral services are pending.